Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-07-01
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse Of thu Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subject: GLOW to Save the Cities"


Elisha: Behold, pray thee, the situation Of
ttis city is pleasant, as my Lord Sceth; but
the cdter Is nGught, aud the ground barren.
And he said: Bring me q nelC cruise, and
put salt therein. Aud they brought 10 10 him
And he tUent forth unto the S1ring of the
1rGteTS, aud cast the salt in there, aud said:
Thus, said the Lord hare healed these
tUdteIS; there shall not be from thence any
more death or barren land. So the tCaters
t1eIe healed unto this day. Kings IL.
49,
1t is difficult to estimate how much Of the
prosperity and health OF a city are dependent
upon good water. The time when, through
well-laid pipes and from safe reservoir, an
alun lance OF water from CrotOn, or Ridge
wood, or Schuyllill is brought into the city
is appropr tely celebrated with Grafton and
pyrotechnic display. Thank God every day
for clear, bright beautiful, sparkling water
as & drops in the shower, or losses up in the
fou..tain or rushes out at the hydrant,
The City of Jericho, notwithstanding all
Its physical and commercial advantages, was
lacking in this important element. There
was enough water, but it was diseased and
the people were crying out by reason thereof
Elisha the prophet, comes to the rescue. He
says: Get me a new cruise; fill it with salt
and bring it to me-" So the cruise Of salt was
brought to the prophet, and l see him walk
ing out to the general reservoir, and 10! all
the impurities depart, througha supernatural
and divine influence, and the waters are
good and fresh and clear AMI all the people
clap their hands and lift up their faces in the
gladness. Water for Jericho-clear, bright
beautiful, God-given waterl
AT different times have pointed out to you
the fountains of municipal corruption, and
this morning propose to show you what are
The means for the rectiAcation of those foun-
tainS. There are four or five kinds of salt
chat have cleansing tendency. So far as
God may help me, l shall bring cruise of
salt to the work, and empty it into the great
reservoir of municipal crime, sin, and shame
tguo ance and abomination.
In this work of cleansing our cities, Ihave
first to remark, that there is a work for the
broom and shovel that nothing else can do
There always has been an intimate connection
between iniquity and dirt. The filthy parts
OF the great cities are always the most iniQui-
tous parts The cutters and the pavements
of the Fourth Ward, New York, illustrate
and Symbolic the character of the people in
the Fourth Ward
The first thing that bal man does when
he is converted is thoroughly to wash him
self. There were, this morning, on the way
to the different churches, thousands of men IN
proper apparel who, before their conversion,
were unfit i'll their Sabbath dress When ON
the Sabbath | see a man uncleanly in his
dress, my suspicious in regard to his moral
character are aroused and they are always
well founded. So as to allow no excuse for
lack of ablution, God has cleft the continents
with rivers and lakes, and has sunk five great
oceans, and all the world ought to be clean.
Away, then, with the dirt from our cities,
not only because the physical health needs an
ablution, but because all the great moral and
religious interests of the cities demand it as a
positive necessity. A filthy city always has
been and always will be a wicked city.
Through the upturning of the earth for
great improvement our city could not be ex-
pected to be as clean as usual, but for the
llhml able dirt of Brooklyn for the last six
months there is no excuse. 1t is not merely
matter of dust in the eyes, and mud for the
shoes, and of stencil for the nostris, but of
morals for the soul.
Another corrective influence that we would
bring to bear upon the evils of great cities
Is Christian printing press. The news
papers of any place are the test of its moral
lty. The newsboy who runs along the street
with roll of papers under his arm is ire
men lous force that cannot lie turned aside
nor resisted, and at his every step the
city is elevated or degraded. This hun
cry, alldevouring American mind must
have something to read, and upon ed
itors and authors and book publishers and
parents and teachers rests the responsibility of
what they shall read Almost every man
you meet has book in his hand or q news
paper i'll his pocket What book is it YOU
have in your hand| What newspaper is it
you have in your pocket9 Ministers may
preach, reformers may pan, philanthl opists
may toll for the elevation of the suffer
ing and the criminal, but until all
the newspapers of the land and all
the booksellers of the land set themselves
against an I'M luitous literature-until then
We shall be fighting against fearful odds.
Every time the cylind rs of our great pub
fishing houses turn they make the earth
quake. From them goes forth thought like
an angel of ght to feed and bless the world,
or like an angel of darkness to smite it with
corruption and sin and shame and death May
God by His omnpotent Spirit purify and ele-
vate the American printing pressl
l go on further and say that we must de.
pend upon the school Tor great deal of cor.
rectlng influence. community can no more
afford to have ignorant men in its midst than
1t can atfor1 to have uncagad hyenas. Ig-
norance is the mother of hydra headed crime
Ihlrty-one per cent. of all the criminals of
New York State can neither read nor write.
Intellectual darkness is generally the pre-
cursor of moral darkness. l know
there are educated outlaws-men
who, through their sharpness of in
tellect, are made more dangerous. They
use their fine penmanship in signing other
peoples names. AID their science in ingenious
iwe, ..Aics, and their fine manners in adroit
lbertinism. They go their round OF sin with
Well-cut apparel, and dangling jewery, and
watches of eighteen karatS, and kid gloves.
They are refined, educated, magnificent vii
lains. But that is theexcep ion. 1t is generally
the case that the criminal classes are as igno-
rant as they are wicked. For the proof of
what l say, go into the prisons and peniten-
tlarles, and look upon the men and women in
carcerated. The dishonesty in the eye, the
low passion in the lip, are not more conspicu-
Gus than the ignorance in the forehead. The
ignorant classes are always the dangerous
classes Demagogues marshal them. They
are helmless, and are driven before the guile
1t is high time that all city and State au-
thority, as well as the Federal Government,
appreciate the awful statistics that while years
ago in this country there was set apart forty
eight millions Of acres for school purposes,
there are now in New England one hundred
and n1nety-one thousand people who can
neither read nor write, and i'll the State of
Pennsylvania two hundred and twenty
two thousand who can neither read nor
write, and in the State of New York two
hundred and forty-one thousand who can
neither read nor write, while i'll the United
States there are nearly six mill ons who can
neither read nor write Statistics enough to
stagger and confound any man who loves his
God and his country. Now, i'll view of this
fact, am in favor Of compulsory educa-
tlon When parents are so bestial as to neglect
this duty to the child, | say the law.
with strong hand, at the same time with a
gentle hand, ought to lead these little ones into
the light of intelligence and good morals 1t
was beautiful tableau when in our city q
swarthy policeman, having picked up lost
child in the street, was found appeasing it's
cries with stick of candy he had bought at
the apple-stand. That was well done, and
beautifully done. But, oh! these thou
sands of little ones through our streets
who are crying for the bread of knowledge
and intelligence. Shall we not give it to
them? The officers of the law ought to go
down into the cellars and up IN the garrets
and bring out these benighted little ones, and
put them under educational influences; aftOr
they have passed through the bath and under